HS2 offers thousands of extra seats to Scotland

Scotland will benefit from 34,000 additional seats per day from London when HS2 is completed in 2033.

Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell revealed the figure in a Commons Written Reply to Alan Brown (SNP, Kilmarnock and Loudon), who had asked three questions relating to HS2.

Mundell explained: “The Economic Case for HS2 Phase 2, published in July 2017, provided the latest evidential basis and showed that the overall benefits of HS2 across the UK, including wider economic impacts, are estimated at around £92 billion in net present value terms.”

He said the business case assumes two 400-metre HS2 trains per hour between London and Scotland, and that these will split or join at Carstairs, with half serving Glasgow and the other half serving Edinburgh.

Mundell added that final decisions regarding the service pattern will be made closer to the time. Each 400m train is assumed to have 1,056 seats.

“Assuming 16 hours of departures per day, the services assumed in the business case would provide a total of 34,000 seats between London-Glasgow and London-Edinburgh on HS2 in both directions each day,” said Mundell.

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HS2 should be extended to Scotland in 2 more phases. The extension of HS2 from Leeds to Newcastle will meet some of the aims of HS3, and that line should extend West to Link with Manchester. Once done, the final extension should be from Newcastle to Edinburgh and Glasgow: all at 225mph+ speeds.

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"2 trains per hour to split at Carstairs". This is on top of the WCML hourly services from/to Glasgow and Edinburgh, TPE also has a train every hour serving either Glasgow or Edinburgh which will no doubt increase in frequency with increased seating once their new stock comes on line. HS2 is not needed north of Crewe as there is ample room for an increased service should it be required.